National Rowing Championship: Manipur eves dominate on day 3

PUNE: Manipur women proved to be a dominant force pushing top spots in three events even as the armed forces men - Services and Army - were a force to reckon with in the semifinal round of the 41st Senior and 25th Open Sprint National Rowing Championship at the Army Rowing Node situated in the College of Military Engineering (CME) campus.

The North-East girls booked spots in the finals of lightweight double sculls which had the duo of Poonam and Rukhmani clock 08 minutes and 29.3 seconds. Similarly, in the coxless pairs event, it was the Kaurs' - Gurbani and Diljot with an effort of 9:16.4 who topped the day. The third final came when the double sculls pair of Thangjam Priya Devi and Haobijam Devi came home with an 08:46.6 effort.

The day also had Mrunmayee Salgaoncakar keep Maharashtra's hopes alive when she brought in a 09:40.6 effort to win her single sculls semi-final.

In the men's section, host's Services reached five finals (even as the event pushed into sundown), while Army booked three final berths.

Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallists and Services lads Jaswinder, Bheema and Puneet, Ashish showed just why they are a dominant force winning the men's coxless fours with absolute ease.

Likewise, Services made it to the coxed eights, double sculls, lightweight double sculls, quadruple sculls and single sculls event finals with defending champion Salman Khan finishing first in his semifinal with a timing of 08:32.1.

The Army oarsmen highlighted their dominance with Asian Games pair Babu Lal Yadav and Lekh Ram making it a no sweat day in the coxless pairs with a 07:56.2 effort to make the finals. In fact, the event also had the Army dominate the Services.

The other finals that the Army made were the coxed eights and double sculls.

Among the other exciting races was the faceoff between two Olympians - Balraj Panwar who represented India at Hangzhou and Rio Olympian Dattu Baban Bhokanal, which ended in Balraj push aside the challenge of Dattu in the singles sculls event to make it to the finals.

Results

Men (9/19)

Single Sculls (M1XQ1): 1-Navdeep Singh (Rowing Federation of India; 08:08.2); 2-Simerjeet Singh (Punjab)

Coxed Eights (M8+SF1): 1-Services (Ankit Kasanya, Yogesh Kumar, Sanee Kumar, Iqbal Singh, Omkar Mhaske, Jaspreet Singh, Hardeep Singh Kulbir Singh, Maimom Kiran Singh; 0632.2); 2- Manipur.

Open Double Sculls (MCV2SF1): 1-Chandigarh (Ravinder, Lokesh; 07:38.2); 2-Rowing Federation of India (Suraj Singh, Sinder)

Double Sculls (M2XSF1): 1- Services (Kulwinder Singh, Karamjit Singh; 07:28.7); 2-Manipur

Coxed Eights (M8+SF2): 1-Army (Babu Lal Yadav, Lekh Ram, Akshat, Prvinder Singh, Neeraj Kalwaniya, Neetish Kumar, Charanjeet Singh, Mukul Kumar; 06.26.7); 2- Orissa

Open Double Sculls (MCV2XSF2): 1-Haryana (Ajay Singh, Lakshay Surendra; 07:39.7); 2-Orissa

Single Sculls (M1XQ3): 1-Salman Khan (Services; 08:32.1); 2-Vasikaran M (Tamil Nadu)

Coxless Pairs (M2-SF1): 1-Army (Babu Lal Yadav, Lekh Ram; 0756.2); 2- Services

Light Weight Double Sculls (LM2XSF1): 1-Services (Nitin Deol, Ujjwal Kumar Singh; 07:22.3); 2-Individual

Quadruple Sculls (M4-SF1): 1- Services (Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar, Ashish; 06:49.9); 2-Madhya Pradesh

Double Sculls (M2XSF2): 1-Army (Gurpartap Singh, Ravi; 07: 40.2); 2-Individual (Shagandeep Singh, Gourav Kumar)

Women (4/13)

Coxless Pairs (W2-SF1): 1-Odisha (Sonali Swain, Ritu Kaudi; 08:46.3); 2-Kerala

Quadruple Sculls (W4-SF1): 1-Kerala (Rose Mariya Joshi, Varsha KB, Aswanthi P.B, Meenakshy VS; 08.23.5); 2-Tamil Nadu

Light Weight Double Sculls (LW2XSF1): 1-Manipur (Poonam, Rukhmani; 08:29.3); 2-Orissa

Coxless Pairs (W2-SF2): 1-Manipur (Gurbani Kaur, Diljot Kaur; 9:16.4); 2-Punjab

Light Weight Double Sculls (LW2XSF2): 1-Haryana (Savita Jaibhagwan, Diksha Rajbir; 08:52.3); 2- Kerala

Double Sculls (W2XSF1): 1-Manipur (Thangjam Priya Devi, Haobijam Devi; 08:46.6); 2- Madhya Pradesh

Single Sculls (WIXSF1): 1-Mrunmayee Salgaonkar (Maharashtra; 09.40.6); 2-Kiran Devi (Police)

Women (4/13)

Coxless Pairs (W2-SF1): 1-Orissa (Sonali Swain, Ritu Kaudi; 08:46.3); 2-Kerala

Quadruple Sculls (W4-SF1): 1-Kerala (Rose Mariya Joshi, Varsha KB, Aswanthi P.B, Meenakshy VS; 08.23.5); 2-Tamil Nadu

Light Weight Double Sculls (LW2XSF1): 1-Manipur (Poonam, Rukhmani; 08:29.3); 2-Odisha

Coxless Pairs (W2-SF2): 1-Manipur (Gurbani Kaur, Diljot Kaur; 9:16.4); 2-Punjab

Light Weight Double Sculls (LW2XSF2): 1-Haryana (Savita Jaibhagwan, Diksha Rajbir; 08:52.3); 2- Kerala

Double Sculls (W2XSF1): 1-Manipur (Thangjam Priya Devi, Haobijam Devi; 08:46.6); 2- Madhya Pradesh

Single Sculls (WIXSF1): 1-Mrunmayee Salgaonkar (Maharashtra; 09.40.6); 2-Kiran Devi (Police).